Thieves World 5 – The Face of Chaos by Asprin, Robert

Gilla. What happened to it?’

She nodded towards the corner. ‘It’s over there. Do you want to see?’ Before he

could stop her she had gone to pick up the painting and brought it to him,

leaning it against the wall.

He stared at it, reading it as he had read Gilla’s face a moment ago, and

knowing that he would never be able to forget the journey from which he had just

returned. It would take some getting used to.

‘A self-portrait,’ said Gilla meditatively. ‘Of course. I didn’t really want to

look at it before.’

After a moment he cleared his throat, knowing that in this knowledge, at least,

they were equals now. ‘Well?’

‘Well,’ she said slowly, ‘you must know that this is the way you always look to

me.’

Her hand moved to enfold his, and feeling suddenly light-headed. Lalo lay back

against the pillows again. His ears were buzzing – no – it was only a fly

circling in the middle of the room. He thought a moment, then, feeling a little

foolish, glanced down at the piece of paper that still lay on the coverlet.

It was blank. Lalo looked up quickly and saw the fly spiral across to the

mirror, for a moment hover there, then buzz purposefully through the window and

away.